Don't Mine At Night
Nocturous III This strange world has a rotation on its axle that syncs with its revolution around the tiny star it orbits in such a way that areas only see sunlight for a few days a month. Everywhere else is nearly pitch black. Because of this it is a world that is mostly barren and rocky, with gigantic mushrooms that need not sunlight to grow taking the place of trees. It's inhabitants evolved from mole-like creatures, relying on hearing and tremorsense rather than sight, and massive claws suitable for digging as well as defending themselves against the giant insects that compose most of Noctorous' wildlife. The only real thing of use here is the strange mineral the Nocturians mine that is not known to be found anywhere else in the local galaxy. Nocturous, the planet of almost constant night. Distant, obscure, one of the only places known to hold an extremely rare mineral.... Is it just me or does this sound like someone phoned in a lazy plot for a cartoon episode? It started as a typical... well... close as it gets to 'day' on Nocturous. The mole-people went about their work, which wasn't very different from any other day because digging was the only thing they really knew, so much of the planet's economy is in mines. This mine was not unlike any other mind on the planet, plowing mushroom-trees out of the way and digging the mining pit deeper and wider and deeper and so on. Just another day of drudgery. At least until there is abruptly a thunderous row at the edge of the pit as one of the machinery fuel stations detonates, burning bright and smokey against the nocturnal skies. The blast is echoed by the call of "DECEPTICONS ATTACK!" and the flash of headlights as a terran style jeep speeds through the smoke, over the edge and down onto one of the earthen ramps leading farther into the pit. Swindle was here and the money machine was already on the move. Swindle folds down and in on himself to become a military grade off-road jeep. Swindle/OMOVE - Set. With a disdainful shrug, Blast Off transforms into a space shuttle. <'Decepticon'> Swindle says, "I'll find what we're here for, feel free to... play with the rest of the locals." <'Decepticon'> Blast Off says, "This counts as at least a partial repayment of my debt, right?" <'Decepticon'> Swindle emits a sound that's hard to tell if he's sighing or its just his motor running. "Yes, fine. Just be glad I requisitioned that transport shuttle instead of making you do it." Sweepcraft dives through the clouds as he descends towards the pit, following the earthen jeep. The sweep usually doesn't follow the combaticon since his usual raids are for his own benefit but since this is a special mission for Galvatron... As soon as he gets in range, the unicronian opens fire on every structures and vehicles unlucky enough to find itself in front of him. <'Decepticon'> Blast Off says, "...Noted." Space Shuttle follows his teammate, swooping down from the skies. The shuttle is here because it's...well, space and therefore he's a natural for an operation such as this. Also- he owes Swindle... for many things, and here's here trying to pay off a little of that debt. A brown and purple streak rushes past some miners as he takes out several structures. Flying up to a large drill, his target systems lock in and he fires several short bombardment bursts, destroying it. He radios Swindle, > Sky Lynx has arrived. Sky Lynx transforms into an exquisitely designed transport shuttle. Autobot Shuttle settles down slowly upon the surface of the planet, taking care to be as stealthy as he can. his door hisses open and he extends his boarding ramp. Resting inside of Ranger's Transport Hull, Hardhead grumbles to himself as he proceeds to continue to check and recheck his Shatterblasters making sure they are fully loaded for any upcoming trouble. As the boarding ramp extends, Hardhead slowly pushes himself up and makes his way out, Shatterblasters firmly in each hand. "Hnnnn..." He looks around the dark and dank planet. "Figures, the Decepticons would target this place...any idea what they are doing here?" Exquisite Space Shuttle - Sky Lynx is here. It's space... he's /always/ there. Of course, whereas Ranger's gone down to the ground below, the shuttlecraft that is Lynx (a better one, of course) maintains a high overwatch. < will be eyes in the sky, Autobots! I do not anticipate any trouble coming of this, as I do not believe any Decepticons could present a challenge to me here... but I shall be on standby should you require any assistance. Until then, I will keep long-range communications open and available as required.>> He rolls belly-up, or...rather, belly-up in relation to the ground, allowing him to better keep an eye on things below. He's got two Military-branch operators here... it's absolutely Evaluation time. After who knows how long with her laser core stuck in stasis and a week of being tested and retested to make sure the transfer was successful and her systems were fully operational, Zipline was eager to get on the move and do something productive. She didn't mind sitting around, but sitting around and doing nothing was not entirely her favorite thing in the world. At least it didn't take long for the Decepticons to provide some sort of field testing for her. "Beats me!" Zipline says as she dashes down Ranger's boarding ramp, weaving around Hardhead's legs. She screeches to a halt at the bottom of the ramp, head raised to follow the trail of destruction left in the Decepticon's wake. She tenses, tail lashing. "But that's what we gotta find out, right? I'm ready to do this thing!" <> Swindle radios back, then pauses as he rounds a corner of the ramp against the wall of the pit and angles off into the depths proper. <> Another short pause. <> Typical. Gravel slings through the air in roostertails as Swindle hits the bottom of the rampway and skids around one of the larger collectors, weaving his way around the machinery and fleeing workers. Come on there has got to be a storage facility or some such around here where they keep the stuff before it can be loaded up and hauled out. <> The sweep passes one more times over the pit blasting a tall structure built on its edge. The defense forces target him but he easily avoid their missiles before targeting their AA weaponeries. Space Shuttle radios back <> The shuttle continues flying around, blasting structures and equipment to pieces... and while he's not specifically targeting miners, he's also not too worried about whether the miners are in the structures he hits or not. Once he's MADE some good scrap metal, he'll circle back around and gather some up to sell to Swindle. Looking at Zipline as she dashes through his legs and sits at the bottom of the ramp. Frowning, Hardhead nods his head, "Yeah. Got to stop 'em." He says firmly towards the tape, "Who are you anyways?" Clearly, Hardhead doesn't read memos or read much of anything really. He continues to lumber down the area as he starts to make his way towards the sound of weapon fire. "Hnnnn..." He grunts as he continues to walk towards the Pit. "Slag it. Always late." He starts to break into a run...a slow lumbering run! Autobot Shuttle transforms once his passengers have disembarked. Crouching down, he peeks over the edges of the nearby rocks, trying to spot the Decepticons. It's obvious to everyone that he's not very good at it. Panels shift at such an incredible speed that they seem to blur and....contract? until the Autobot Ranger stands before you "Keep up, big guy," The cheetah-like tape says, looking back at Hardhead, "I'm Zipline. Nice to meet you too." Her tail flicks, and back legs tense further as she half crouches to the ground. "I'll scout on ahead, don't get too far behind!" In one smooth motion, she half runs, half leaps, pushing off hard with her hind legs. Then when she touches the ground again with her front legs, she's off like a bolt, speeding on forward. Not entirely the most stealthy of bots, to say the least. But she's fast, quickly making up for lost time. And small, too, to make up for her lack of stealthiness. What was that yellow blur speeding between two piles of debris? Who knows, it's not there on a second glimpse. Exquisite Space Shuttle - Sky Lynx continues to track the Decepticon movements below. < fear my own weight might not be supported by the subterranean network of mining shafts. I am hesitant to settle down to engage them for fear of causing more potential destruction than I am preventing.>> He rotates around so his nosecone is pointed ground-ward. < will see what I can do to divert or distract them from inflicting further casualties until you can get into position properly. Do hurry, however. I am not in the best of positions to actively deny them their goals. Whatever those may be.>> Lynx charges up the laser batteries. <> Sweepcraft sharp's senses notice something just outside the perimeters of the Decepticons attack. <> The unicronian doesn't waste any time and change his course to intercept the Autobots. The first Autobot that crosses his path his Hardhead. "Welcome to you doom aut" It's then that Sky Lynx blasts him from above but the sweep manages to keep control of his flight and goes right back towards the large Autobot, all gun blazing, "You'll regret that Primitive!" Military Gunnery Jeep rounds another turn... and spots what can only be described by a harvester like machine that is gigantic even by Transformer standards. Maybe it still has some of the mineral in its holds, that would make this a lot easi--whoa. Gunfire abruptly starts peppering the ground around him, forcing the jeep the veer off its approach as several shots rattle across his side. <> The jeep briefly disappears behind a driller, then skids to a stop as Swindle flips up into robot mode. As he slides on his heels he aims his grappler at the harvester and latchs onto one of the external catwalks and rapples his way up to it. The jeep flips back and up, revealing a lean mean black market machine. Swindle/OMOVE - Set. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Swindle has 'skipped' his action for this round. Space Shuttle is simply innocently minding his own business (while bombarding the heck out of innocent miners) when suddenly- he's almost hit with a bombardment from above! Wait a minute, no fair! His scanners picks up several Autobots, in fact... Well, they want to interfere do they? (Like always... geez, they're like turbo-roaches... you just can't seem to get rid of them...) The shuttle's quick reflexes come in handy, as usual, and he evades the attack. "Well... I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see Sky Lynx here..." He debates flying up to let Lynx know what he thought of that attack from above, but he does have a grudging respect for the fellow space shuttle. And Avaraice already has it covered. Looking at the others, he spots... Oh, is that the Autobot space shuttle he met once before...what was his name...Oh yes, Ranger. The Combaticon swoops down to fire upon the other shuttle- and his friends, too. "Greetings, Ranger! It's almost a shame to destroy a fellow space shuttle, but that's just the way these things go..." Finally reaching the battle lines, Hardhead raises his Shatterblasters at levels them at the Sweep as he takes aim, "Unicron-Spawn!" He curses out towards his target when Blast Off's blasts just bounce off his armor, causing Hardhead to just grunt as fires at Avarice attempting to knock the Sweep back down to the ground. Ranger is knocked off his feet as Blast Off's blasts sear into his armour. Rolling to his knees, he swivels his axe into his hand and hurls it at the enemy shuttle. Exquisite Space Shuttle - Sky Lynx is far from subtle, and as Avarice comes his way, he kicks on the primary engines. Roaring out of his orbital spot, the Autobot Commander rolls to allow the sweep's taunting attack to rocket off in space. "HA! Is that the best you can do? Now I can see why Unicron failed so miserably. If you truly were made by him, quality was certainly not his best trait. Galvatron's future is in good hands indeed... from our standpoint." He keeps his altitude high and well out of the 'High Collateral Potential' zone. <> He suddenly puts on the brakes and transforms, whirling around on the Sweep to batter it back down in conjunction with Hardhead's attack. "You are not good enough to play with the big boys yet, halfwit." Sky Lynx transforms into the wondrously phenomenal form of a Sky Lynx! It becomes quickly aparent to Zipline that while her body is perfectly good at running fast, there's only just one slight issue; turning. Weapons fire bursts all around her and in front of her and shrapnel pelts into her brand new paint job. Her stride is broken by one particularly large bit of shrapnel knocking her into a tumble, but she's on her paws again quickly. "Ugh, slagging ammo sprayers." She takes the moment to look around quickly. One, two... Where's the third one? Wasn't there a third one? In a lunge, Zipline dashes off again into the mines, hot on Swindle's trail. But she doesn't have too far to go at least at her speed until she's skidding to a stop just in time to wach Swindle grapple up to the top of the massive harvester. And that thing is large for a regular sized Transformer? Sheesh. "Heh, got~chya!" The cannon on her back levels in on Swindle, but instead of using its railcannon, she switches modes, firing a quick pair of laser shots at the swindler's feet. "Where do you think you're going, decepticreep?" Sweepcraft is blasted out of the sky by Hardhead's attack and he heavily crashes on the ground (helped in that by Sky Lynx), raising a cloud of dust around him. Slowly, painfully, he transforms back into his robot mode. He finally rises to his feet, revealing his shredded armor. "I'll show you the power of Unicron, you worthless hybrid!", he snarls as his optics brighten and fires a twin ruby energy beam towards the headmasters. The sweepcraft splits open and unfold, revealing the sweep known as Avarice. Space Shuttle sees the axe hurtling at him and speeds off to the right, avoiding the attack. "Come now, Ranger, no words for your fellow space shuttle? You could at least engage me in conversation as I destroy you... it's not civilized to simply ignore someone like that, you know." And because he is such a "civilized" mech, he flies closer, so that Ranger can *see* his destruction coming in all its brown-and-purple glory- a "glory" that fires a more focused bombardment burst straight at him! Hatchway, hatchway, hatchway, there has got to be a hatchway somewhere on this thi--aha! Swindle finds what he's looking for, and is just eyeing up the lock mechanism when the sounds of heavier gunfire reachs his audios. ".. Okay, no time to do this the fancy way." So he just points his arm cannon at the lock and blows it off. Then shoves the hatch open. While she fails to hit him, the laser shots blow out the struts holding up the catwalk he's standing on. Swindle yelps in surprise and grabs onto the hatch frame to haul himself partway into the doorway as the scaffolding tumbles down at an angle with a screech of twisting medal. He peeks out at the dangling length of metal, then in the direction the shots came from. "Oh slag, is that--wait." Squints as his optics zooms in. "Nevermind, it's not Steeljaw. The yellow threw me off at a distance." Hmph. He doesn't have time to waste in a draw out fight, but he can't risk someone just running up here to get in his way either. So he compromises by pressing his back against the hatchway frame to give himself less of a visible profile to aim at, points out with his smaller sidearm, and fires a short magnetic shot down at the cat. Letting the faintest hint of a grin cross his face, Hardhead lowers his Shatterblasters as Avarice crashes down to the ground near him. Tilting his head, Hardhead looks at Avarice, "Power from a dead god?" He takes a step towards the Sweep when the Energy Blast hits him square in the chest. "Hnnnn..." He looks down as his chest armor crumples in, a piece falling off towards the ground. Looking at the Sweep, Hardhead throws his Shatterblasters back into subspace as he prepares to punch the Sweep when his systems seize. "Gaaahahahaaa..." Hardhead collapses to one knee. "Neat trick..." He then drops to his other knee reverting to his tank mode, his barrel grinds mechanically as he prepares to track Avarice. "Ain't a hybrid." He emits as he fires a shell towards Avarice. The robot form of Hardhead almost seems to collapse to the ground as the body of the robot folds into an odd looking tank. For a fraction of a second, the head of the robot jumps off and becomes a humanoid figure who slides into the cockpit of the tank which encloses on the figure. Sky Lynx takes a bit of satisfaction as Avarice strikes the ground. "Come back when daddy gives you a new upgrade. Oh...wait, he is dead." He chuckles softly and turns his attention to the rest of the fight. <> He continues to circle overhead, continuing to supervise. <> Ranger's optics flicker briefly and he responds to Blast Off. "I fail to see how trying to hit you with an axe is ignoring you, really, I - Aagh!" He's cut off as Blast Off shoots him again. resting on one knee, he draws his blaster and fires a few rounds. "Although, if you want to talk, I saw this wonderful neutron star recently." Nocturous III This strange world has a rotation on its axle that syncs with its revolution around the tiny star it orbits in such a way that areas only see sunlight for a few days a month. Everywhere else is nearly pitch black. Because of this it is a world that is mostly barren and rocky, with gigantic mushrooms that need not sunlight to grow taking the place of trees. It's inhabitants evolved from mole-like creatures, relying on hearing and tremorsense rather than sight, and massive claws suitable for digging as well as defending themselves against the giant insects that compose most of Noctorous' wildlife. The only real thing of use here is the strange mineral the Nocturians mine that is not known to be found anywhere else in the local galaxy. Contents: Sky Lynx Cybertronian Tank Zipline Ranger Avarice Space Shuttle "Hmph," Zipline glares up at the swindler-bot, "That's a Thing, isn't it. That's totally going to be a Thing." She flicks her tail irritably at the prospect of being mistaken for the other cat tapebot all the time. Though in this case, it looks like Swindle has the high ground, physically speaking. It makes Zipline a bit easier of a target. She only manages to tense her legs before the bolt of energy strikes her. Magnetic energy ripples through her systems, making her gears grind. And making the cannon feel a bit heavier on her back. <> She reports to Sky Lynx, <> She doesn't let it stop her though. Legs release, and she takes off at a run. Only for a second, before she lunges up straight at the harvester. She hits it with her front paws with claws gripping, then tucks in her back legs. She pushes herself off of it rapidly with her back paws, launching herself almost straight up to the remaining catwalk. Cat on the catwalk. Huh. She doesn't stay on it long though. Those front claws begin to spark and crackle with some sort of energy, just before she leaps off the catwalk again. Right at Swindle's face, intending to latch right onto it. Avarice is struck right in the middle of his chest by the shell and the sonic burst overload his senses as he drops to his knees, holding his head and screaming in pain. After a moment, he manages to get back on his feet once more, "He may be dead.but as you felt.his power is not. This was just a small taste!" As he finishes his sentences, he leaps into the air, right towards Hardhead, with his wings spread wide. He lands on the tank and grabs the headmaster's cannon with both hands, "Just a small taste" he repeats as his starts to feed on Hardhead's lifeforce. Space Shuttle avoids Ranger's next attack, as well, swooping up and back around for another shot. In the meantime, he responds in a rather conversational manner, "Oh really? Which one? I saw the Crab Pulsar (one of those young neutron stars, as you know) recently... I only had time to fly by it, so I couldn't stay. But it put on quite a show for the length of time it was in view." He may be fighting Ranger, but Ranger IS a space shuttle... and as Sky Lynx knows, Blast Off loves a good space-related cnversation- even if it's with an enemy. Just because he's trying to kill you doesn't mean he has to be impolite! Of course, if you're NOT a space shuttle... well, then he'll probably just be trying to kill you. Swindle leans out again to peek and sees the tapebot gone. "Well, I guess that takes care of tha--ack!" Not quite so gone after all as Zipline leaps up from the catwalk and tackles him. Taken by surprise the swindler topples over and the two go tumbling down the stairway on the other side of the hatch. Needless to say, he probably took the worse of the fall before clattering to a stop at the bottom. "Not the most graceful of entrances." Swindle snaps up a foot in an attempt to kick the cat off his person, then scramble back onto his feet and hustle for the the big ominous gate on the other side of the internal chamber. That has got to be the storeroom for the collected minerals. Sky Lynx dives down towards Blast Off. "Come now, Blast Off. Where is your sense of sport? Don't make me remove your wings from your fuselage." He zips by, letting his tail do most of the talking beyond that to try and knock the Combaticon down a few notches. With that addressed, at the very least verbally, he turns his attention to where Zipline disappeared. < need someone to get eyes on Zipline. It is not good to have one of our own separated from support. Who is going in?>> Attempting to reverse his course, Hardhead is unable to engage his transmission so he is essentially stuck in place, making him an easy target for Avarice to sink his fangs. "Hnnnnnnn..." Hardhead emits a yelp of pain as Avarice starts to drain out a portion of his essence. "...darkness...pain..." Hardhead emits out. Inside Hardhead's cockpit, Duros is frantically pressing buttons levels and switches as he beings to manually restart up Hardhead's systems. "Come on Hardhead! Fight it!" Duros screams at Hardhead as he continues to work. Ranger grimaces as Blast Off's laser drill holes in him. "Ow, hey, could you quit that? It was somewhere off towards the Eagle nebula." Leaping up, he transforms. Panels shift at such an incredible speed that they seem to blur and....expand? until a large transport rests before you. You know what they say about cats always landing on their feet? Not entirely true. Or maybe Zipline hasn't been a cat long enough to actually inhereit that trait. After clinging to Swindle's face long enough to avoid getting smashed against the floor, she lets go to go sliding pretty ungracefully across the floor. Claws finally manage to bring her to a stop at least, just in time for her to see the kick being aimed at her. She pushes off of the floor to avoid it, but it's a close call; that boot scrapes her paint job, leaving a scrape in it. When she lands, it's to see Swindle booking it across the room towards the very ominous gate. That IS rather ominous, what could it be? Zipline doesn't think twice about it though. Instead she levels the end of her railcannon at the back of Swindle's head. It begins to spark and crackle with energy, magnetizing the slug in it. But at the last second, she shifts targets from Swindle... To a control panel on the side of the doorway. The cannon goes off with a crack of its projectile breaking the sound barrier on launch, followed by a thud of Zipline being thrown backwards to the floor from the recoil of the experimental cannon. Seeing his opponent in trouble, Avarice decides to go for the kill. He leaps into the air and transforms back into his sweepcraft mode. He takes his time to circle around his prey before finally launching his attack. Breaking his circle, he dives towards Hardhead, unleashing his deadly weaponry upon the Autobot. Avarice leaps into the air, his wings folding around him as he reconfigures into a sweepcraft. *BOOM* Swindle was just reaching for the controls when a hypervelocity slug slams into them, jerking back his arm to shield his face instead as the device detonates in a spectacular fashion. He already got his face clawed up, he didn't need his optics blown out as well. Growling in annoyance he takes a few steps back. "Hmph. Well, you've left me no choice but deviate from my intended course." He swings around to level his cannon-bearing arm at the cheetah, the weapon hissing as it arms and the barrel rotating its arpature to a narrower, more focused firing radius. "And teach the newb why not to meddle in my affairs." The scattergun's firing echos in the chamber. "Which, by the way, will cost extra. Time is money, after all. But I'll gladly take it out of the scrapmetal cost for your remains." And here is Blast Off again, simply minding his own business bombarding the heck out of Ranger, when Sky Lynx (Again!) launches an attack from above! This will just not do! The attack tears through his fuselage, scorching into some of his heat shields. The attack's goal certainly works, and the Combaticon's attantion focuses on the larger shuttle overhead. He sniffs smugly, "I say, Sky Lynx...I was simply having a conversation with Ranger about neutron stars when you rather rudely interrupted. I'm afraid I cannot leave that unanswered, you know." He pauses to answer Ranger with "Oh really? That's quite spectacular, too. Shuttles get to see so many amazing sights that mere ground-pounders cannot understand..." Then the Combaticon sweeps up towards Sky Lynx. "So... you insist that I destroy you, too? Very well, have your way..." and he unleashes a bombardment towards the big 'Bot! The Disruptors hits Hardhead, forcing his transmission out of whack and stripping a bunch of gears just as the tank lurches forward. However, the rest of Tank's systems come back online as the weapon systems power back on line and another shell loads into Hardhead's barrel as he targets the Sweep again, "Hnnn, impressive..." Duros flips a couple of switches which sends a blast towards Avarice. "But not impressive enough!" Duros continues to work on Hardhead's system attempting to get the tank mobile again. Sky Lynx turns his attention to Blast Off proper. Seems there was more of a reason to taunt the Combaticon away. <> He chuckles softly. There's a loud *THUNK* as his armor takes the blow from the other shuttle, drawing a louder laugh. "Really now? Conversation? Accented by the laserfire? Far from chivalrous." The small impact-point smokes...just a little bit. It could be far worse (something that won't buff out) and he drives towards Blast Off. "Come now...let's make this a nice, up-close, personal affair." He goes silent for the time being, teeth snapping. "Whooyeah, this thing has got /kick/!" Zipline forces herself up to all fours, staggering a little from the myriad of damage she's taken. Her nice cheetah paint job has gotten a few extra spots in the form of roasted metal bits. "I kinda like it!" Only once she looks up, it's see Swindle approaching her with a very ominous looking gun pointed at her face. She smirks in spite of the doubt she's beginning to feel creep up in her processor. Wouldn't exactly be the best way to celebrate her re-activation to end up in the scrap heap again, would it? "Gotta catch me first, loser~!" She taunts, flicking her tail. Legs tense, and she rushes forward, trying to get ahead of the blast. It doesn't /quite/ work, as the blast sears through her shoulder, leaving a sizzling black line along with the black spots. But while Swindle is focused on firing at her, Zipline dashes straight under his legs in spite of the laser searing into her armor. She twists about as soon as she's behind him, and immediately regrets it. There is a spark and a crack, as something in a front leg decides to give out as a result of the direct laser fire. "Oh come on, I just got these legs," She mutters to herself. That rules out another lunge. But the railcannon is still somewhat charged. She levels it at Swindle head, and against her better judgement, pumps a bit more charge into it to fire another slug quickly at the back of his head. Even then it's got a nice recoil to it, pushing the barrel up, and Zipline back. Autobot Shuttle spirals as he surges upwards, then loops around towards Zipline and Swindle. <> he responds to Blast Off, <'ve always felt a little sorry for the Gropos.>> Focusing on Zipline's IFF signal, he descends, landing lightly outside of a hatchway. Cautiously, he makes his way inside. Panels shift at such an incredible speed that they seem to blur and....contract? until the Autobot Ranger stands before you Sweepcraft is struck by one more shell and that's more than enough for the Unicronian. < suffered too much damage. I can risk capture. You're on your own.>> he transmits to other before accelerating at full speed to escape the planet gravity. Space Shuttle sees Sky Lynx suddenly dive down at him, teeth snapping. Oh, slag no you don't. The shuttle powers his thrusters to maximum speed as quickly as possible, and just escapes the snapping jaws. Even in his larger shuttle mode, Blast Off is still significantly smaller than the "space bird". "I THINK NOT. I do *NOT* do up close and personal! I'd far prefer to skillfully shoot someone from as *far* away as possible. I'll leave the punching and kicking... and *biting*... as the less civilized behavior it is!" (He also just doesn't like getting his aft kicked- which is what tends to happen when he gets "up close and personal"...) He rockets off a distance and attempts to keep that distance, too, as he fires another bombardment at Sky Lynx. "And regarding conversation, what would you have me do, Sky Lynx? I was simply conducting my own business here when those Autofools showed up to spoil our plans. You don't expect me to simply tolerate such rudeness?" Ranger's radio gets a response as well, <> That's one speedy little bugger. As to be expected, being a cheetah and all. Swindle gets partway turned to follow her, only to get one of those high speed slugs to the chest for the trouble. The impact shatters the faux windshield that decorates his chest plate as the Combaticon is knocked skidding across the room and into a stack on the opposite side. The containers all topple over, several busting open as they hit the floor and spill out assorted black and blue crystalline rocks. "Who the slag puts a railcannon on something that -small-," Swindle mutters as he pushes a crate off and crawls out of the spilled pile. He starts to raise his arm cannon again, but then noticed the chunks scattered about. Not the refined version, but... wonder why it was left stacked in a corner instead. Oh well, beggers can't be choosers when under fire. Swindle retracts his weapon and stoops down to grab a bunch of the crystal-like ores, shoving them away in his storage. Just need enough to get the project done.... [ Defense Levels ] Level +Attack +Dodge ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PROTECTED -10 +10 GUARDED 0 0 NEUTRAL +10 -10 AGGRESSIVE +20 -20 FEARLESS +30 -30 [ Use !defend to change Defense Levels ] Sky Lynx hmms. "Autofools? What do you take me for, Blast Off. I wear that insignia as well." He turns towards the other shuttle as the laser catches him in the side of the face, drawing a loud hiss. "Hahah, that one actually stung! You're growing up, you know that? Who knows, maybe one day you can actually stand as one of my equals. One day." His thrusters engage as he transforms. Time to go shuttle-to-shuttle. "Look around you, Blast Off. What do you see? Because I see something of true tactical importance that you should truly be taking into consideration right now." He blasts the sky with fire. Time to test out the Combaticon shuttle's heat shields. > Sky Lynx transforms into an exquisitely designed transport shuttle. Lurching forward, the Cybertronian Tank tries to line up another shot at the Sweep, but the Sweepcraft quickly outpaces the Tank's firing range. grinding his gears again, Hardhead reverts back into his robot mode, shaking a fist at the Sweep before Duros even manages to land on his shoulders. Receiving his orders from Sky Lynx, Hardhead shakes his fist at his Commander, "Finally an order that makes sense!" He grumbles as he turns towards the Harvester, preparing to climb his way up to help out the others...this might take a bit. The tank almost seems to pull a wheelie as the front treads lift off the ground. The fancy transforming sound rings out as the tank quickly folds out into a robot. For a brief moment, it appears a humanoid form leaped out of the cockpit and became the Robot's head. The transforming sound finishes and now stands Hardhead. Purge with plasma? Well that doesn't sound good. <> Ranger sends to Blast Off, before cupping his hands around his mouth, and yelling into the building. "INCOMING!" The way the barrel of that cannon kicks back like that it's either half luck or half skill that Zipline manages to hit anything at all. Probably a bit of both. The lower charge setting doesn't send her onto her skidplate this time at least. "Like the kick, but such an energy hog," Zipline complains as she steadies herself. The cannon levels on the stack of barrels that Swindle toppled into, the rails crackling with magnetic energy. < kept him busy for you bots>> Zipline replies, sounding a touch smug. <> "Hey!" She levels the cannon on one of the barrels still standing precariously at the top. Lasers fire, knocking out the barrels just underneath it, and sending the barrel on top toppling over in Swindle's general direction. <'Decepticon'> Blast Off says, "What's going on down there, Swindle? Do you require any assistance? I have Sky Lynx engaged up here, but I could fly down towards you." Space Shuttle sniffs, "Well... it is almost a shame that you do. You are not the fool that most of your brethren are, but it is... rather unwise to choose the losing side." The rest gets a glare... or it would if Blast Off wasn't in shuttle mode. "Do NOT mock me, Sky Lynx. Your false confidence only originates from not having had to face me very often in battle. That *can* be corrected. Blast Off hesistates at Lynx's final warning, and he finds himself wondering what he's missing. Scanners start to sweep down below, and in his distraction, he doesn't notice Lynx's attack until it's too late. "Gah!" Fire scorches his fuselage and several patches of the ceramic tiles in his heat shields are melted away. Slag it... he circles away, and radios Swindle. <> To Ranger, he responds, <> Finally, the shuttle completes an arc back towards Sky Lynx, this time aiming for those teeth that tried to snap shut on him. "I am sure we have things covered, Sky Lynx... both on the ground and in the air... but thank you for your concern. However, if I were you, I'd be more concerned about my upcoming attack..." With that, he fires! Swindle's head snaps up as someone shouts from the hatchway. Great, now what? That's his way out of here... Oh bother. The barrel was barely staying put as it was, a small shot is all it takes to knock it over, which in turn knocks Swindle away from the spilled stash he was looting. Oof. "Little pest... I should sell you to a space zoo or something." But she's not his main problem now. That would be whoever is up there blocking the doorway now. These missions just can never go the easy way. Swindle pushes himself to his feet, expanding the muzzle setting on his arm cannon as he does so. With the other hand he pulls what looks like a rocket with a drill replacing the nosecone "I was saving this in case I needed to dig myself, but hey, prehaps a demonstration is in order." He shoves the projectile into his cannon, raises his arm, and fires in the direction of the hatchway. Got to clear out the exit, after all. <'Decepticon'> Swindle grunts. "Yeah. Just need to get back out of here again." Exquisite Space Shuttle - Sky Lynx hisses again as laser bores through his armor. The true downside of this form... if it could be called that. He'll attribute it to the other shuttle's apparent...well, being a shuttle. Lynx charges towards Blast Off and chuckles softly. "Look around you, Blast Off. Who is the fool here? Tell me... if I render you nonfunctional, how will Swindle depart this place?" To drive the message home, he transforms and rears back to deliver a nice, healthy blow. "Because you so wantonly victimize the innocent, I will find no problems with making this scenario a likely outcome. A chance to destroy Bruticus without bothering with its full strength? How wonderfully generous of you!" Sky Lynx transforms into the wondrously phenomenal form of a Sky Lynx! Continuing his climb up, Hardhead pauses as he listens to the Radio Chatter. "Hnnnn..." Internally, he seems to be debating whether to follow Sky Lynx's orders and go after Swindle, or to attack Blast Off, "Nuts." Hardhead pulls himself up and tries to block the exit. Hardhead doesn't bother to draw his Shatterblasters as he simply cracks his knuckles together. "Leave it Swindle." Is all the Headmaster states as he stares daggers at Swindle. <> Then he's blasted off his feet and sent rolling limply. Ranger, that is. <'Decepticon'> Blast Off says, "...GAH... I'm ...*zzkt* ...On my way down there." Finally, the calvary! Zipline grins to herself as she hears Ranger and Hardhead outside. She hunkers down a little bit, lowering herself slightly closer to the ground. That front leg sparks a little and metal complains, but she doesn't seem to mind it all that much. "No luck there, this cat's running free," She says, tail lashing from side to side behind her, "You, on the other hand, aren't!" But when he pulls out the missile launcher, Zipline, momentarily, has to appreciate the workmanship. Is that a drill head on that? Oh wait, it's being aimed at another Autobot. But Zipline's leg complains a bit louder when she tries to rush forward, and she staggers to land flat on her face. Space Shuttle probably had some (what he thinks is) incredibly witty and intelligent response, but if he did, the world will never know. Because he's getting confident...over-confident, and that often leads to disaster. Which it does. Sky Lynx connects with a massive blow that just about knocks the smaller shuttle out of the sky right then and there. Warning systems start screaming at him as he nosedives, finally catching himself from a freefall and flying on his own again... but much less steadily. Smoke trails from glitching systems as he transforms into his more protected root mode. "Guhhh ... How droll, Sky Lynx. Let me thank you for the humor sometime... (there's some slight static)...However, it will have to w-*zkt*wait. It just happened to occur to me that I must pick up Swindle and d-*zkt*depart this foul place..." He still manages to radio Ranger, however, even as he descends towards the ground. <> Blast Off shifts into his battle-ready robot mode. <'Decepticon'> Blast Off says, "I'm coming down there, Swindle. Are you ready to depart?" <'Decepticon'> Dustoff says, "Do I need to put mints on the pillows for you again?" Blast Off radios to Swindle, <'m coming down there, Swindle. Are you ready to depart?>> <'Decepticon'> Blast Off siiighs Swindle scoffs a bit as the cat staggers about, and uses his grappler to get up to the hatchway. "You're just lucky curiousity didn't get you killed -this- time," he retorts over his shoulder at the cheetah-bot trying to get her bearings. He grabs onto the frame and pulls himself up.... Only to come face to face with the headmaster. Well, figuratively speaking, considering Hardhead is a fair bit taller. Well, slag. But being the cool sort he is Swindle doesn't let it phase himself for long. He does sigh a little, though. "If this wasn't for direct orders by Galvatron I would complain its too much work." Galvatron ordered this? Okay not specifically, directly, but they don't know that. Let them wonder about it. "Now if you'll excuse me." Swindle gives the bigger mech a bit of a shove so he can duck under him and back out to the exterior of the construct. <'Decepticon'> Blast Off says, "I like the ener-green mints, not the ener-winter ones, Dustoff." <'Decepticon'> Dustoff chuckles. "Uh huh... well then. Extended stay? Or will this be a brief visit?" <'Decepticon'> Swindle says, "Yes, yes, just get over here." <'Decepticon'> Blast Off says, "....Depends on Sky Lynx, I think. He's being quite... peevish." <'Decepticon'> Dustoff says, "I'll call the morgue." <'Decepticon'> Blast Off whimpers Sky Lynx has the shuttle on the run, and this is quite where he's used to being. The only problem, however, is his hesitance to get too close to causing potential collateral. He drops altitude as well, keeping pace with the other shuttle until he's low enough to make a decent show-of-presence to back up Hardhead, glowering at Swindle. "Hah... he's all yours, Hardhead." Turning back to Blast Off, Lynx snaps again, though...this time without the show of teeth. Now it's turning into a game to see how long he can just pester the shuttle-bot. Because...well, really, why not? Opportunity's presented itself. Besides...so long as Swindle is ground-bound, chances of bombs decimating the place are minimal... sort of. If Zipline was a real cat, she'd probably be trying to lick her wounds. But she can't, so all she can do is try to recalibrate her movement systems. They're still not all that familiar, so it's slow going. She doesn't persue Swindle though, instead letting Hardhead deal with him. But if she had a tongue, she'd be sticking it out at Swindle, probably. She does make the aproximate sound of a raspberry, though. But as Swindle makes his way past Hardhead, Zipline watches the swindle-bot closely, quickly analyzing the fight she had with him, brief as it was. And after a moment, Hardhead would get beamed a bit of intel about some weak spot in Swindle's armor. Staring at Swindle, Hardhead seems unconcerned with the words coming out of Swindle's mouth, he tilts his head to the side as Swindle begins his maneuver, the Combaticon is clearly more nimble than Hardhead. As the Decepticon's shoves Hardhead, small dents form where his hands were pushing the Headmaster. Hardhead moves about a fraction of a millimeter. Tilting his head, Hardhead smiles at Swindle, "You want down?" Reaching back his right hand, Hardhead lowers his right fist, as he turns away from Swindle. He then uncoils, attempting to uppercut Swindle off the platform. Ranger climbs painfully to his feet, clutching his head. <> Zipline folds in on herself, transforming into a disappointingly stationary yellow and black tape. The yellow and black tape unfolds rapidly and hits the ground on all fours as Zipline the cheetah cassette, ready to speed off! It's not much of a move, but it's enough for the smaller Combaticon to squeeze past him and out onto what remains of the catwalk. Swindle is just about to hop off and use his anti-gravs when Hardhead smashes him heavily from behind, sending the swindler tumbling over the railing before he has a chance to get his flight systems going, so now he's just falling instead. Fortunately it's a loooong way down, and his ride should be coming along at any moment.... With a disdainful shrug, Blast Off transforms into a space shuttle. Space Shuttle flees... I mean, Blast Off simply heads off to do something else because he's bored now. Yes, that's it. He's also rather hard to catch when he's in "flee for your life- but never admit it" mode. This helps him, for he just puts on yet another burst of speed as Lynx tries to bite him again. "Really now, Sky Lynx... I thought I told you I find that rather uncivilized... surely you have better manners than that! We shuttles have a certain degree of proper etiquette and expectations to live up to, after all..." He also replies to Ranger, <> With that, the shuttleformer spots Swindle getting punched off the platform. Quickly transforming to a shuttle mode again, he swoops down, using his blazing speed to reach swindle before the conmech reaches the ground (or activates his anti-gravs, whatever...) His cargo bay door opens to scoop up his teammate. <> Then the shuttle speeds off to the stars. Swindle tumbles roughly against the inner bulkhead of Blast Off's cargo bay as he's caught on the fly. "Yeah, definately." He doesn't really complain about that, sitting up to lean against the wall. "I was hoping for some extra stash to sell, buuut." He pulls out one of the few crystals he managed to grab from the spill before the Autobots interloped. "I did get enough for Galvatron's little toy at least." Sky Lynx misses! Well, it's probably for the better. He'd have to clean and polish his teeth again if he bit into anything. Watching as Blast Off rockets away, he casually engages various rockets and boosters to hold a hover. "Hah...well, now we just need to find out what it was, exactly, they were here for and why. But at least we prevented any further reckless behavior on their part." He looks back at the scene around him to assess just how much damage was not prevented. <> <> Zipline reports, flopping back on her skidplates. She gives a front leg a shake, as if that would somehow fix it. It sparks a little instead. <> Optimism! Watching at Swindle falls over the railing, Hardhead crosses his arms over his chest taking satisfaction with his job. As Blast Off swoops in and rescue's his friend/teammate/Merc/Debt Holder, he uncrosses his arms and shakes a fist at the fleeing Decepticon pair. Lowering his fist, Hardhead looks back at Zipline. "Thank you for the tactical data, it allowed Duros to find that weak spot in his read left armor plating." Hardhead gives Zipline a faint nod, a rather large gesture from Hardhead.